Abhaya – Women Who Dared

Chitra Srikrishna is a Carnatic vocalist, educator, and writer with over three decades of global performance experience. Her thematic productions include Abhaya, Mukti, Pravaas, and Udaan, weaving song, story, and imagery into multilingual experiences that explore music as a living dialogue. She has taught interdisciplinary courses at universities in Ahmedabad, Boston, and Washington, and her writing has appeared in publications such as The Hindu, Mint Lounge, and Scroll. Her forthcoming book, Band Baaja Bhava, is published by Hachette India.

Prema Vivek is a Carnatic violinist trained under Vidwan H.V. Krishnamurthy and Vidushi Neela Ramgopal, with further guidance from Vidushi A. Kanyakumari. She performs as both a soloist and accompanist across sabhas in Karnataka and beyond, and has been part of a women’s violin-venu-veena ensemble for twelve years. Prema holds a degree in electronics engineering and worked as an IT professional for over two decades.

Ranjani Venkatesh is a mridangam artist from a lineage of musicians, a disciple of Vidwans Mariyanna, N.G. Ravi, and H.S. Sudhindra, and Vidushi Neela Ramgopal for vocal music. Top-graded by All India Radio, she has performed across India and internationally with artists including Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, T.M. Krishna, and Kanyakumari. She is founder trustee of the Subhadramma Venkatappa Sangeetha Vidyalaya Trust ® and visiting faculty at Jain University.